Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) has conventionally been known as a method for imaging blood vessels by using an X-ray diagnosis apparatus. DSA is a technique used for obtaining image data selectively rendering blood vessels of which the contrast is enhanced by a contrast agent, by performing a subtraction on pieces of X-ray image data acquired before and after injecting the contrast agent to an examined subject (hereinafter, “patient”). For example, according to a DSA method, by performing an image acquisition process before injecting the contrast agent, a piece of X-ray image data in the absence of the contrast agent is acquired as mask image data. Further, by performing an image acquisition process while injecting the contrast agent, a piece of X-ray image data in the presence of the contrast agent is acquired as contrast image data. Further, DSA image data is generated by performing the subtraction between the mask image data and the contrast image data.
Further, another technique called parametric imaging is also known by which a parameter related to an inflow time of the contrast agent is expressed in an image, with the use of the DSA method described above. For example, during a parametric imaging process, changes in pixel value in each of different positions in the DSA image data are regarded as changes in concentration level of the contrast agent, so as to calculate a time at which a temporal change in the pixel value exhibits a peak value or a specific value as an inflow time. Further, during the parametric imaging process, parametric imaging image data (which hereinafter may be referred to as “parametric image data”) is generated by mapping a color corresponding to the calculated inflow time onto each of the positions.
Further, for X-ray diagnosis apparatuses, various types of techniques have been proposed to provide X-ray image data that enables the viewer to have a stereoscopic view. For example, a technique is known by which parallax images for the right eye and the left eye are taken by varying the angle of a C-arm.